Do you want to sync distribution groups when migrating to Office 365, but are having trouble?

We recently worked with a customer who had over 300 distribution groups that were not syncing to Office 365. Upon review, we noticed that the distribution groups did not have a Display Name.

Here are the steps we took in order to Sync Distribution Groups in Office 365:

1. Open ADUC

Open ADUC “Active Directory Users and Computers “On the top menu click on view and select Advanced Features.

2. Find the Distribution List

Find the Distribution List that is not syncing to your Office 365 tenant > right click the Distribution List > select Properties > click on the attribute editor tab.

3. Fill out key attributes

There are a couple attributes that must be filled out in order for it to Synchronize to Office 365.

Attributes: Mail, displayName – if they do not have any data, fill it in. Once completed click ok.

4. Open the MIISClient

Open the MIISClient. This is located on your DIRSYNC Server. The default path is: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Online Directory Sync\SYNCBUS\Synchronization Service\UIShell\miisclient.exe”

5. Click on Metaverse Search

Click on Metaverse Search > input the following:

Attribute: Mail
Operator: Contains
Value: “Email Address of the DG”

6. Find the connectors tab

Once filled in click on search > double click the search results > click on the connectors tab. Note: If you only see SourceAD Management Agent, perform the following:

7. Click on Management Agents

Click on Management Agents > Right click SourceAD > click on Run > click on Full Import Stage Only > click on ok.

8. Right click SourceAD

Right click SourceAD > click on run > click on Full Sync > click on ok.

9. Right click TargetWebService

Right click TargetWebService > click on Run > click on Full Confirming Import Stage > click on ok.

10. Right click TargetWebService

Right click TargetWebService > click on Run > click on Full Confirming Sync > click on ok.

11. Right click TargetWebService

Right click TargetWebService > click on Run > click on Export > click on ok.

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